The FayObserver summarized this approach to "voting integrity" yesterday:
Under [the] bills, voters would be asked to produce an unexpired government-issued identification card, such as a driver's license or military ID, in order to vote. Voters without an ID would still be allowed to cast a ballot, but only after they had their photos taken at the poll and signed an affidavit swearing to their identity.
Lying would be a felony. Voters' photos would remain on file with board of elections, ready to view if someone wanted to file a challenge.
Seems to us (and, granted, we only deal with reality and not the popular fantasy haunting Republican minds that busloads of illegals are being driven to polls), this satisfies both the itch to demand "Show us your papers!" and the promise of our democracy that people be allowed to vote.
Plus we imagine (okay, that's not strictly real, but still) that the cost of equipping polling places with photographic equipment might not be any more expensive that supplying at public expense all the many thousands of government-issued photo IDs that the Republicans are going to have to mandate in their own version ... to keep their law from running afoul of the NC Constitution.
These two bills will at least force the issue ... that the Republican radicals in Raleigh aren't really interested in voting integrity but in voter suppression.
ADDENDUM ON COST
One of the sponsors of the House bill said that this approach is "less expensive than other Voter ID bills. 'According to the NC Fiscal Research Division, the bill would cost slightly over $3 million. I’ve seen estimates on other Voter ID bills run way up in the money,' he said." Richmond County Daily Journal
5 comments:
I'm surprised there are no comments here. Come on, conservative lurkers! Tell us what's wrong with this proposed bill. Wouldn't it eliminate the rampant voter fraud??
Not if illegal aliens are given indistinguishable drivers licenses.
What makes conservatives lurkers? So much fo acceptance of diversity.
Uh...... A "lurker" is one who reads content on a site, but rarely comments. It's not a derogatory term. You still didn't really answer my question: what's wrong with the proposed law that says if you come without ID, you get your picture taken at the polling place?
Undocumented immigrants aren't citizens, so their names would not be on the voter rolls in the first place, whether or not they have a driver's license.
Why was the answer to johnbyjohn censored?
A picture proves nothing other than you are the person that presented the documentation to get the ID. A driver's license for illegal aliens only provides them with a means of producing documentation that could be used fraudulently if it looks lie the license of a citizen.
Do you consider drug dealers undocumented pharmacists?
I try to post more than you do, jj. Does that make you a lurker?
I don't know why you're so obsessed with being called a "lurker." It's not an insult! I thought that perhaps other people who don't usually post might comment on this. I wasn't talking specifically to YOU. I don't know if you post more that I do or not, since you're Anonymous and I can't tell you apart from all the other Anonymouses. Why don't you pick a name and use it?
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